Poster of Netanyahu Hanged Sparks Debate Into Artistic Protest

AG Mandelblit to examine whether the art piece, plastered in the hallway of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, incites to violence; Last week, an artist installed a golden statue of Netanyahu in a central Tel Aviv square,

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit launched an investigation Tuesday into a poster which was anonymously hung in the stairwell of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem.

The poster bares the image of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu behind a noose. It is reminiscent of US President Barack Obama’s campaign poster and exchanges the Democrat’s slogan of Hope with the more grim Rope. The painting was removed after a few hours, sparking a debate over the limits of freedom of expression in art in an increasingly polarized society.

Noam Sharvit, a Justice Ministry spokesman, said a probe was launched to look into suspicions that the poster was intended to incite violence.

Bezalel’s students’ union said that it did not know who was behind the poster, but did clarify that it was the work of an individual student expressing themselves artistically: “We certainly do not support messages calling for violence and incitement of any kind whatever and even oppose that. However, as a design institution, we believe in the freedom of expression and art and are for providing an expression for the entire rainbow of opinions, within the boundaries of the law.”

According to Nadav Heipert, chairman of Bezalel’s student union “In Bezalel, lots of strange works are hung on the wall, some of which are connected to politics and some of which aren’t.”

The Bezalel Academy itself commented that it was investigating if the posters were part of a course curricula or the private work of a student.

President Reuven Rivlin wrote on his Facebook page: “the poster crossed lines” and was incitement against Netanyahu.”

Ram Shefa, the National Union of Israeli Students’ chairman, commented, “As young people, students, freedom of expression is extremely important. It produces value, criticism, involvement, certainly in art disciplines, academia and in general. However, we will never agree with calls to violence of any kind whatsoever. All types of opinions are worthy of the spotlight, but not at the cost of incitement.”

Leader of the Opposition Isaac Herzog and Culture Minister Miri Regev also condemned the poster separately, also supporting freedom of expression but drawing the line at inciting to violence. Regev posited that if it were Herzog depicted in the picture, “There would have been arrests already. I call on Minister of Education Bennett and say the time has come for you too to draw a line between art and incitement.”

Regardless, they said, the creation was a creation internal to Bezalel “as part of an ongoing dialogue on design, art and culture, including the issues of borders, reproducing images and memory. The exercise, more or less successful, is part of professional discourse, hung on the internal wall in a stairwell in the academy and not presented publicly, has no political incitement and should be judged accordingly.”

Last week, an artist installed a golden statue of Netanyahu in a central Tel Aviv square, where late PM Yitzhak Rabin was murdered. That drew a stream of selfie-taking by passersby before it was toppled by city workers.